The mum of a teenager with profound disabilities says her son has got his life back after the HSE did a U-turn on savage cuts.

Maeve Scanlon’s severely disabled son Ryan, 18, was among 11 young people who were left in limbo this summer after the Government axed funding for adult daycare at Stewart’s Special School in South Dublin.

Students graduating from Stewart’s post-primary had previously been guaranteed full-time, five-day services at their adult centre in Palmerstown.

But the Irish Mirror revealed how savage cuts in the health budget left the school with just €200,000 for the new term – €400,000 less than it needs to look after its profoundly disabled students, some of whom need round-the-clock care.

Parents like Maeve struggling to deal with their children’s complex physical and mental health needs 24/7 said the stress pushed them to breaking point as they battled to get the HSE to think again.

And their determination paid off as we can exclusively reveal the full-time service has been saved and the teens started back at school last week.

Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Maeve revealed: “The outlook was so bleak in the summer after we’d knocked every door and been turned away.

“But we promised ourselves we’d never give up because our children deserved it and our battle paid off.

“The day I received the letter telling us the daycare had been saved was honestly like getting a letter from heaven – I just couldn’t believe what I was reading.

“It was such a struggle coping all summer when Ryan was at home full-time and there were many nights when I lay awake worrying how we would manage if it was like that permanently – for us and for him. But thankfully we’ve got our lifeline back.”

Maeve had vowed to take her fight to have their services reinstated all the way to Europe.

Fortunately for the 11 profoundly disabled teenagers, their parents didn’t have to and they are now settling back into their routines.

But with James Reilly’s health department in appalling debt and scrambling to find €666million in savings, Maeve predicted the future “looks bleak” for families coming behind her.

However, the Clondalkin mum pledged to do everything in her power to help families who face a similar plight down the line.

She said: “I don’t think we’re completely out of the woods but at the same time we’ve been assured Stewart’s is a cradle-to-grave service so I hope we’ll never have to go through all this again.

“Unfortunately I think those coming behind us will struggle but I will do whatever I can to help them.

“Hopefully the worry and the sleepless nights are all behind us and we can all move forward.”